+0.27(+0.44%)

-5.90(-0.44%)

-0.20(-1.17%)

-0.01(-0.71%)

Bulls discover Cole Real Estate

Cole Real Estate has been fighting a negative trend in its industry, and the bulls are looking for continued gains.

optionMONSTER Heat Seeker monitoring program detected the purchase of 6,200 March 12.50 calls for $0.58 and the sale of an equal number of March 15 calls for $0.03. There was barely any open interest at either strike, which indicates that new positions were initiated.

Known as a bullish call spread , the trade uses income from selling upside calls to reduce the cost of those that are closer to the money . The net outlay was just $0.55, and the trader now stands to collect $2.50 if the stock closes at or above $15 on expiration--a profit of 355 percent. (See our Education section)

COLE rose 1.01 percent to $12.03 yesterday and is up 7 percent in the last three months. That's significantly better than the 5 percent drop experienced by other real-estate investment trusts during the same period.

The company has interests in more than 1,000 properties, most of which are used for retailers such as Walgreen, Albertson's, and PetSmart. Its largest footprints are in Texas, Florida, and Ohio.

Total option volume in the name topped 12,600 yesterday, more than 400 times its daily average. Only 11 of those contracts were puts.